It’s been a hot minute since most of the top prepaid gambling sites have introduced new payment options.
Recently, however, BetOnline added yet another new cryptocurrency to its online bet funding menu.
For whatever reason – out of all the big-name US-facing online betting sites, BetOnline – along with sister site SportsBetting AG – consistently offers the biggest and most updated crypto selection.
Most operators simply settle for Bitcoin and some combination of Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, and/or Ethereum for a little variety. While these options are fine, they’re not necessarily the best for gamblers.
Bitcoin (BTC) – though still the king of the hill and the industry gold standard for investment – is slow to actually use, and the fees aren’t trivial. BTC transfers can eat up 10% or more of your transfer, and the platform takes 30-60 minutes to verify transactions.
The wait is especially problematic when you want to enter an online slots tournament in 20 minutes or bet on a game that starts in five.
Meanwhile, prepaid Ethereum gambling is even slower and more expensive than Bitcoin betting.
In fact, outside of its investment potential, we don’t normally recommend Ethereum (ETH) for online gambling. Transfers often take upwards of 90 minutes or more, and the so-called “Ethereum gas fees” are the highest in the entire crypto market.
The cost proposition is simply too high for most casual gamblers, and if you don’t already hodl and trade ETH regularly, we strongly recommend pretty much anything else.
To that end, most sites also offer Litecoin (LTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) support. Both of these are faster and have minimal fees, but their shared weakness is that they aren’t in the same class as Bitcoin or Ether when it comes to investment.
LTC is currently just inside the top 25 cryptos (22nd place) per CoinMarketCap, while BCH is outside the top 25 at 27th. Both crypto coins have been occupying these positions for nearly a year now, and they don’t seem to benefit from big runs quite as much as higher-ranked options.
And that’s where BetOnline comes in.
Unlike other sites, BetOnline is pretty good about analyzing the momentum of a given coin and then adding said coin to its banking menu whenever that momentum peaks.
The site did this for Cardano back in Q3 2021, and it followed suit with Solana in Q4.
Solana (SOL) – like Cardano (ADA) – is a third-generation Proof-of-Stake (PoS) crypto currency, and it has many of the same benefits – for both prepaid online gambling and crypto investment – that Cardano does.
For one thing, Solana was 2021’s biggest gainer, mirroring the hype that Cardano enjoyed just a few months earlier.
Today, both coins are inside the top 10 cryptocurrencies in terms of total market cap, and they are considered to be one another’s primary rivals.
Also like Cardano, Solana is (erroneously) often referred to as an “Ethereum killer.”
To be clear, neither SOL nor ADA are actually “Ethereum killers,” as Ethereum is still the top dog in the NFT and smart contract spaces. Also, Ethereum 2.0 isn’t even out yet.
But both SOL and ADA are better than Ethereum when it comes to online betting, and the benefits of betting with Solana are the same as the benefits of betting with Cardano.
Namely, you get nearly instant transfers (5-10 minutes at most), virtually no attached blockchain fees (literal pennies on the hundred dollar), and access to the same enhanced crypto betting bonuses that Bitcoin and legacy altcoins earn when making deposits.
You also get same-day payouts faster and with lower fees than any other crypto method.
Not all sites currently accept Solana (or Cardano, for that matter), but both BetOnline and SportsBetting AG do. And, naturally, we expect other big brands – like Bovada, Café Casino, Slots LV, Casino Max, and more – to roll out SOL support in the near future.